According to German Utility Model No 7924 359 U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,996 the first handle portion of such a resectoscope is in the form of a grip and the second handle portion thereof is in the form of a ring for receiving the user's thumb while the other fingers of the same hand encompass or extend through the grip. In some resectoscopes a handle portion for use in turning the high frequency cutting element of the resectoscope is in the form of an adjusting wheel the circumference of which has rounded recesses providing gripping surfaces.
During a resection operation the lock body of the resectoscope together with the electrode, the shaft and an outer shaft fitted thereover may need to be rotated by as much as 360.degree. about the longitudinal axis of the resectoscope. The use of resectoscopes having conventional handles may, therefore, be undesirably laborious since the shape and arrangement of such handles is not ergonomically optimal, so that the user must frequently regrip such a handle and at the same time change the position of his arm, during a resection operation.